'The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven' never actually went, book recalled

It turns out that Alex Malarkey’s story about going to heaven and coming back was actually malarkey. Alex himself has recanted the story and the bestselling book about his experiences, The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven, is being recalled by publishers.

The story Alex and his family told in 2010 was that he and his father, a Christian therapist, were in a terrible car accident in 2004. At the time, he was 6 and was left paralyzed by the crash. He went into a two-month coma and claimed that he went to heaven during that time. He said he even spoke with Jesus.

Now 16, Alex has written a letter, obtained by Pulpit and Pen, to Christian book stores that have sold the book.

“I said I went to heaven because I thought it would get me attention. When I made the claims that I did, I had never read the Bible,” Alex wrote. “People have profited from lies, and continue to. They should read the Bible, which is enough. The Bible is the only source of truth. Anything written by man cannot be infallible.”

The book was published by Tyndale House, which told the Washington Post Thursday that it has pulled the book out of print.

“We are saddened to learn that Alex Malarkey, co-author of The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven, is now saying that he made up the story of dying and going to heaven. Given this information, we are taking the book out of print,” the statement read.

While this would seem to be the end of the story, there’s actually more to it. Tyndale only had a contract with Kevin, Alex’s father, who is now divorced from his mother, Beth, reports NPR. She had actually tried to tell people that Alex’s story was not true in an April blog post, around the time a movie based on a book about another boy’s similar story, Heaven is for Real, hit theaters.

Beth wrote that Alex continues to be taken advantage of “against his wishes” and that he is “opposed” to the book. She also claimed that Alex was not receiving money from the book.

LifeWay Christian Resources, which has over 100 stores, said that it has finally pulled the book, now that Alex has come forward.

“We receive letters and complaints about lots of products we carry. We don’t pull a book just because we get a letter or a tweet,” Martin King, director of corporate communications for LifeWay, told the Washington Post when asked why they hadn’t pulled it when Beth’s post was published. “We became aware that the author said this story isn’t true this week. That’s when we pulled the book.”